Chapter 10
They dropped into a cave for the morning; they ate only food that didn't need cooking and Cleo entertained Yugi with stories while Jou and Malik half listened, pretending not to be interested.
Bakura and Ryou sat at the back of the cave, out of earshot from of the others.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Bakura asked yet again, brushing away Ryou's damp hair.
"Yes, yes and yes." Ryou smiled, brushing his fingers against Bakura's lingering hand. "I'm alright, stop worrying." Bakura nodded and kissed his cheek.
Ryou's hand subconsciously rested on his stomach, a warm feeling spread across his hand.
When night fell over, although the Angels couldn't tell night from day, they set out again, keeping hidden in the shadows and trees.
"We are less than two days." Cleo nodded, pulling Yugi over a bush.
"I thought it was only a day!" Jou accused.
"Yes, that was when we were running, now we have to be careful and keep hidden so it will take much longer. Hurry up Bakura!" Cleo called.
Bakura was walking with Ryou at the back, making sure the small Angel wouldn't fall over again.
Ryou pushed back any thoughts of leaving and concentrated on their weaving path. He felt a strong arm wrap around his waist and he relaxed, glade to have the demon close.
Suddenly a screech filled the air, echoing through the forest, an ear splitting sound. Ryou instantly covered his ears and shuddered. The noise seemed to vibrate through his body and his stomach heaved.
"Ryou!" Ryou stumbled away and feel to his knees, heaving up his food onto the ground.
Bakura knelt by him and held back his hair, whispering soothingly to him.
"Let me guess, it was a nazgul-1-?" Brian shuddered.
"A what?" Gabriel looked between the Angel and shadowed girl.
"A nazgul, a creature of pure darkness…" The girl had a sick amusement in her voice.
"What happened?" Gabriel whispered, she didn't like the sound of the creature and wasn't willing to talk further.
They set camp up in a small clearing surrounded by oaks, their branches spread over their head shielding them.
Ryou was still shaken and was in the care of a worried Yugi and Malik while Jou made them dinner. Cleo and Bakura sat away talking.
"You'll have to give him up, he's an angel, and he doesn't belong here." Cleo gave Bakura a hard stare and Bakura avoided her eyes.
"I know…" He was watching a bug crawl along a stick and he thought hard. He loved Ryou and didn't want to give him up but didn't they always say you should let the ones you love free?
"Say good bye to him." Cleo urged, getting up. "If we set out early we should be there by next sunset."
Bakura watched her retreat back to the group and he looked at Ryou. He was half asleep and he looked perfect to Bakura, his smooth milky hair fell over his forehead and his chest rose and fell gracefully, everything about him was so perfect and Angelic…Bakura shook his head at the wording.
How had he grown so attached to the little Angel in such a short time? It felt like years when really little less than a month had passed between the two.
'But he doesn't belong here.' A voice sneered in his mind.
Bakura stood and retreated into the forest to think. There was no point in thinking of a way for Ryou to stay, it was wrong to make him, he loved him and didn't want him to suffer. The only way was to let him go.
Bakura looked over his shoulder.
'But first I will say good bye.'
Someone shook Ryou's shoulder gently and he shifted. He was so tired and weak and he had been sick earlier and his stomach still ached. The person shook him again. Ryou opened his eyes and looked into Bakura's shadowy face.
"Kura…" Ryou sat up and got a dizzy rush.
"Ryou, come with me." Bakura took his hand and pulled him away and Ryou followed silently.
They stoped a few feet from camp where everyone was asleep.
"What is it?" Ryou's hand moved to Bakura's cheek and he gently stroked it. Bakura's eyes slid shut.
"I was talking to Cleo; we're a day's walk from the portal…." Bakura didn't need to continue; Ryou drew back and felt he emotionally crumbles.
"So this is it. I go back to the Angelic Realm and we forget each other?" Ryou's voice shook and his eyes swam with tears.
"I will never forget you." Bakura was next to him, wiping the tears from his eyes.
The tears slid down Ryou's face and he lent forwards to press his lips against Bakura's desperately. Bakura pulled him closer.
Gabriel wiped away her own tears and sighed. "So Ryou left and Bakura never saw him again?"
"That was only the night before; my real story starts the day he left…"
Hours before the sun had risen and they had set off, Ryou avoided Bakura, his eyes still puffy and his cheeks stained with tears. Bakura felt almost guilty and walked along side of Cleo, his eyes drifting to the small Angel as he walked with Yugi.
They were half a day from the portal. The thought lingered heavily on their minds. For Yugi, Jou and Malik it meant home, back to their lives before the demons had come. For Ryou and Bakura it meant living the one they loved…for good.
Ryou's hand unconsciously rubbed at his flat stomach. As his hand rubbed against his stomach he felt a warm surge through his fingers and felt a wave of nausea.
"Ryou?" Yugi grabbed Ryou's hand as he doubled over and threw-up his breakfast.
Malik pulled Ryou's hair out of his face. He was growing suspicious about Ryou's condition and knew that Bakura had something to do with it…
Bakura and Cleo watched from a fare, talking lowly.
"With Ryou's condition we'll be slower…" Cleo whispered.
Bakura couldn't suppress the surge of joy at the information. He kept his face stony as he nodded. Cleo rolled her eyes.
"I know you're happy about this, but you won't be so happy when the guards turn up." Cleo kicked a rock. "You are a wanted man Bakura, they'll find you eventually."
"How far are we?" Jou had appeared by Cleo's side.
"Half a day, if we can set out now we can be there before midnight." Cleo looked over at Ryou to see him drinking while Malik and Yugi fused over him. Ryou stood and walked forwards, set on getting through the forest.
Cleo nodded and walked on, Bakura drifting behind, his eyes straying to Ryou, the beautiful, elegant, perfect Angel. He couldn't see himself letting him go…
By night fall the trees were beginning to thin and they came closer and closer. Cleo pushed them on and they grew weary as time passed.
"We're here!" Bakura's head snapped up at Cleo's cry.
Just beyond the line of trees was a stretch of field covered in dead grass and weltered flowers. But in the centre was a swirling pool; beyond the shimmering pool was a set of pearly white gates.
"Home…" Malik murmured, squeezing Ryou's hand. Ryou cast a sadden look to Bakura, but the Demon had gone forwards into the field.
"I guess this is goodbye." Yugi came up to Bakura's side. "Thankyou…" Yugi smiled gratefully but Bakura paid little attention.
"Come on Yug!" Jou called running towards the portal. "We're only feet away from home!" Yugi laughed at Jou's enthusiasm and followed him a slower pace.
Malik and Ryou walked by, stoping so they could thank Cleo (Malik was rather stiff) before they followed their friends to the edge of the portal. The walked past Bakura and Ryou turned his green eyes on him, one last time…
"Halt!" Bakura and Cleo were seized by Angel-guards, dressed in fine robes of rich purple. Bakura growled and tried to wrench his hands away.
"Let them go!" Ryou yelled, he tried to run to their aid but Malik held him back.
"We haven't done anything!" Bakura growled. "We were just bringing them back."
One of the Angels snorted and turned to the four younger ones. "We are relived to find you all well and safe."
Ryou struggled against Malik but after hours of endless walking and vomiting he was weak and helpless in the arms of his friend.
"Please they haven't done anything wrong!" Tears slid over Ryou's pale cheeks and he looked wretched.
"Perhaps we could make a deal." Cleo suggested calmly. "We only wanted to return the Angels, so you take them and we'll just walk away with no trouble."
The Angels looked considered the offer and slowly they released them. "Take you're leave, you are no longer needed."
Cleo pulled on Bakura's arm to make him follow her, but Bakura simply stared at Ryou.
Ryou's puffy eyes bore into Bakura's cold ones and Bakura moved forwards.
"No!" Malik pulled swiftly from his robes the knife.
"Malik!" Yugi and Jou yelled.
Ryou tried to pull away but Malik shook his head.
"Don't come near him!" The threat was for Bakura who understood clearly.
"Go…" Bakura's voice was cold. "Just go…"
"Did they leave…?" Gabriel whispered.
"Yes." The girl confirmed. "They left back to their Angelic Realm and never saw Bakura again."
"I don't understand!" Brian snapped. "How does this have anything to do with you?"
"I come after…"
Nine months since they left the Demonic Realm. Everything was slowly going back into place, except one small thing…
Outside the Healer's ward Malik paced. Jou chewed his nail and Yugi fidgeted. Ten long hours since their heavily pregnant friend had gone into labour. After they had returned from the Demon Realm Ryou had found out he'd fallen pregnant to Bakura and nine months later he was giving birth.
Malik jumped when the door opened a slim nurse-Angel came out. Her face was soft and wide and her eyes glowed.
"It's a girl." A collection of sighs and gasps flittered around the three. "But…" The light suddenly disappeared and the nurse shook her head. She stood back and ushered them in.
One bed was in the room and held a sleeping Ryou, his hair had been tied away from his face and he was wet with sweat. Another nurse was busy at a tub. She pulled out a squirming pink 'thing' and the three leaned further to see what she looked like.
"What…" The small child was like any other.
She had a tuff of silver-white hair, her left side darker than her right and her eyes were bright brown, except her left eyes was darker and her right eyes brighter. But the hair and eyes weren't the thing that shocked the three Angels. On her right side she had the small wing of dove-white feathers, a perfect little Angel wing, but the other wing was a small leather black one, a Demon's wing.
"She's half demon…" Yugi murmured, confirming the fear.
"But…" Malik looked between the nurses and the child only hours old.
"We have already alerted the situation to the council." The nurse explained, wrapping the tiny girl in blankets.
"Can I hold her?" Malik's voice sound small. He knew what would happen and truly it scared him.
"Of course." The child was placed in Malik's arms and he cradled her against his chest. He held her tightly hoping that he could shut the world away from the tiny girl.
It took less than an hour for the council to arrive. They were stony faced and brisk and to the point.
"We will have to send her away. She is un fit for the realm of angels." Jou protested loudly but Malik just cradled the girl and watched the sleeping Ryou.
"I'm afraid we must." A council protested. "We will have to send her to the Realm of mortals."
"Wait!" Malik called. Everyone turned to him but he meet no one's eyes. "Wait for Ryou to wake up; he has to see her…"
As if his words had reached Ryou through his rest Ryou's eyes fluttered opened and the brilliant green was shone.
"Ryou!" Yugi ran to his side and gripped his hand. "You're awake!"
"We're is my baby?" Ryou's voice was cracked and he sounded tired and almost broken.
Malik walked slowly with the girl is his arms. "She's safe." He helped Ryou hold the bundle.
Ryou's eyes brightened and he wrapped his delicate arms around the child. Words could not express the emotions that flooded through him as he hugged his child.
The council members stepped up to the father and daughter and the leader cleared his throat.
"I'm afraid that by law she will have to be banished to the mortal realm."
The words worked slowly through Ryou's tired and foggy mind and when he'd fully grasped them he let out a cry.
"No!" He tried to shield his daughter from them but they easily pulled her away.
"It is law." The child let out a strangled cry as she was carried away and Ryou cried along with her, Malik holding him soothingly.
"What happened to the child?" Gabriel whispered awed.
"Well…"
The only way to get to the Mortal Realm was to get through the Demon Realm. Isis shivered as she stepped through the portal. She wasn't so happy about being given the task of transferring the half-Demon child to the Mortal Realm. Odion was beside her and looking around suspiciously. Isis pulled the bundle closer and headed for the forest, a short cut to the Mortal Realm portal.
They had made it at least three yards before a blade was against their skin.
"An odd place for a pair of Angels to be wondering." A voice sneered into Isis's ear. She shivered and tried to turn.
"What do you have there?" Another Demon appeared beside the other, snatching away the bundle. Isis let out a cry but didn't move towards them.
"A baby?" The first sneered then saw the wings. "Half-Demon, Half-Angel?"
Odion moved to protect Isis and the demons cackled.
"Tell you what." The second sneered. "We'll take the little freak-child from you and you two can go back to your pretty little Realm, hmm?"
"No." Odion reached for the child but was stopped by a knife to the gut. Isis screamed and dropped beside the wounded Angel.
"No arguments then?" The first cackled pulling the other away with the child.
"The child?" Brian asked, trying to keep the wonder from his voice.
"They took her away. Cleo went to the dungeons they had taken her to. They killed her before she reached her." There was a pause before she continued. "Ryou died of grief and Bakura followed after the news…"
"And the child?" Brian asked again.
Realization slowly drew on Gabriel she looked into the darken corner, her heart racing. "She lived…" Gabriel whispered. At Brian's confused look Gabriel continued. "Don't you see? She is the child!" She was now pointing into the dark.
The chains rattled and suddenly from the dark emerged the face of the voice. Long silver hair hung down her back, one side darker than the other, bright brown eyes glowed, one side darker than the other. One white-dove wing, one leather one.
"They know me as the ChangeOfHeart, I am not an Angel but am, not a Demon but a demon, and I am immortal, unable to die yet desperate to leave. I was brought here and will remain here; I am one and all…"
THE END
HD: (cackles!) Wow that was rushed!
COH: that was a strange ending HD
Cole: matches HD, both are strange
Bea: finally it's over!
Alvar: thanks to reviewers!
HD: PLEASE REVIEW!
HappyDevil, Bea, COH, Cole and Alvar!